Woman found after 36 hours in ditch

A 74-year-old Houston woman, believed to be suffering from dementia, is recovering after wandering alone for 36 hours in Galveston before being found unconscious in a roadside ditch, KHOU-TV says.

Barbara Griffitts’ family reported her missing at 2:30 a.m. Saturday when they realized she vanished from their travel trailer during a Labor Day weekend getaway at the Dellanera RV Park on Galveston’s west end.

Despite a full-scale search that included Galveston Police, the Galveston Fire Department, the Coast Guard and Texas Equusearch, Griffitts remained missing until a couple on a Sunday afternoon walk saw her legs sticking out of tall, swampy marsh grass.

“And she was just laying there on her back,” said Lori Simon. “We just went out for a walk in the afternoon and stumbled up on her.”

She was unconscious, dehydrated and was covered in mosquito and ant bites, but alive.